Davis Steve - Click On Democracy

CLICK ON DEMOCRACY FOLLOWS THE INTERNET'S ROLE IN THE 2000 election, from the early dreams that the Internet would have the same political impact that television did in 1960, to its ultimate disappointments as the campaign cycle climaxed. But the authors rightly recognize and argue that the Internet is a completely different medium, which aids political discourse in new ways. They describe a variety of examples of how this occurs, ranging across different kinds of political communities representing different points of view.

The Internet cannot be treated simply as another mass media outlet, driven by news releases and candidate statements. Instead, interactivity, engagement, and responsiveness are the elements that will define effective online campaigns. A candidate would be well encouraged to embrace the Internet for its many-to-many nature rather than to try to use the medium in the same manner as television or print. Click on Democracy effectively shows the differences between traditional media (as exemplified by mainstream news Web sites) and the new, effective forms of Internet-inspired communications. It is up to the candidates in 2004 and beyond to recognize these differences and embrace them.

Our organization, Meetup.com, is intimately involved in this new form of Internet-based political communication and activity. Meetup was launched in June 2002 as a way for people to find a group of neighbors with a shared interest. In part, our inspiration for the effort was Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, a work that the authors of Click on Democracy also discuss at length. Bowling Alone outlines the decline of American community and the corresponding decrease in civic engagement. But Putnam is suspicious of the impact that the Internet is likely to have on rebuilding these communities, for two principal reasons: The Internet is more efficient at connecting strangers in far-flung locations who have things in common than it is at connecting neighbors who are different; and Internet communities are essentially one-dimensional forums, where all communication is written and societal cues are absent. We didn't see these aspects of Internet communities as inherent limitations; instead, we viewed them as an opportunity to create new and valuable forms of communities.

Meetup organizes local meetings for people with a common interest about anything, anywhere. We take the step of using the social interactions exhibited on the Internet and blending them with the real world. Following the model of civic organizations from earlier eras, Meetups occur on the same day of every month. We use modern technology to organize traditional face-to-face group meetings. The decentralized nature of the Internet helps people find their local niches and encourages word-of-mouth communication. Thus, a person in Detroit who is registered for the Republican Meetup can tell an online friend in Tallahassee about the Republican Meetup and that person can attend his or her own Meetup locally, as well.

Meetup was initially conceived without much explicit focus on politics. Using the Internet to spread the word about different events, we reached out to weblogs, discussion forums, and chat-rooms to let people know about how to Meetup regarding political candidates. Fueled by grassroots political interest, the phenomenon quickly mushroomed. Our own story is entirely consistent with the theme of